best available copy



Jam'- AVAILABLE COPY (No Model.) A. LEVEDA'HL.

' FINGER FOR COTTON HARVESTERS. N0. 517,578. Patented Apr. 3,1894.

416i LWgMZ,

AXEL LEVEDAHL, OF AUR O RA,ILL

IN DIS, ASSIGNOR SE WING MAOIIIN E COMPANY,

TO THE GARDNER on SAMEPLAOE.

FINGER FORC OTTON-HARVESTERS.

"SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 517,578, dated April 3,1894.

Ap licatien filed May 14, 189;.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AXEL LEVEDAHL,.Of Au rora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinols, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fingers for Cotton-Harvesters; and I do hereby declare that the follow- 1ng 1s a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention has for'its object to provide an improved tub'ular brush support in a finger or stem for cotton harvesting machines and to this end it consists in the metal part of such a finger constructed substantially as hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the cla1ms. The number of picker fingers employed in a cotton harvester "is so great (often reachingsix hundred in a single machine) that cheapness and lightness are considerations of primary importance. Strength in chine may render it wholly useless. be understood at the outset that a metal body of a tubular and having bristles projecting through the line 4-4t of Fig. 1, omitting the brushes, and Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the tube after being slotted, in the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

A represents a metal tube, usually of hard brass, cut to the length required for a cotton picker finger, including the journal on-which the finger is to rotate in the machine. In this tube are cut a number of lengthwise slo'ts a,

a arraugedin series end to end and those of each series or longitudinal row of slots be Serial No. 432.990, (No model-)l ing separated by short necks a left uncut in the cylinder. Having reference to the usual length of the working or projecting portion of the finger or to the length of brushwhich it is'to support, I prefer tomake eachseries of slots a to consisttof three, as shown, and to provide five such series, though these numbers may be varied. the several series of slots terminate a short distance from the free'end of the finger and between the proximate ends of the slots the necks a form a continuous circumferential ring of uncut metal of the cylinder, left of full. strength and serving to brace and tie together the lengthwise strips of metal a between the slots. The slots at are made by means of a saw or saws, in a familiar manner, their width as left by the saws being considerably lessthan they are required to be ultimately. For the purpose of enlarging these slots to the desired width the strips a of metal between them are bent or-swaged inward at their edges, as indicated in Figs. 1, 3 and 4, thus not only widening the slots but also bending the intervening strips of metal a into smaller parti-cylindric form, or proxin Fig. 3. Bythis imately so, as indicated method several desirable results are attained. First, less metal is cut away in forming the slots, which of course results in leaving more of the metal remaining in the finger, and for this reason alone giving strengthandrigidity. Secendly,therigidityof the finger is still further increased by the partially folded form or sectionally more sharply curved shape thus given the metal strips 0, The necks a uniting these adjacent'strips of metal have the effect, of holding them in proper relative position and of distributing the strain from one to another and thus still further increasing the rigidity of the finger. For the reason thatthese features of construction contribute in the manner described to the rigidityand strength of the finger, the

tube from which the latter is formed may be proportionately lighter than would otherwise be required, with the result of materially lessening the cost of the machine and of making it correspondingly less weighty. Another adstrips a is that they present very narrow sur The outermost slots of vantage of thesharp sectional curve of the,

to the finger greater left in its original cylindric form at its inner faces along their median lines for "contact with the plant and they therefore accumulate but little of the gum which exudes from the plant and which, when spread upon broader surfaces, so holds the cotton fiber as to seriously interfere with its removal by the cleaners employed for that purpose. The tube is bristles of the brush are shown in Figs. 1 and 3, protruding through the various slots a and projecting from a bristle holder B consisting of twisted wire. may be of any approved construction as it is not directly a part of this invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. A tubular cotton harvester linger body consisting of a single piece of cylindric tub- This bristle or brush holder ing having a plurality of lengthwise slots arranged side by side in its projecting portion, the metal strips betweensaid slots having their edges directed inwardly and the inner end portion of the tube having its original cyllndric shape to form the journal on which the finger rotates.

2, A tubular cotton harvester finger body consisting of a single piece of cylindric tubing having a plurality of lengthwise series of slots arranged side by side, the necks of metal separating the slots of each series being integral with the metal between the series of slots and the edges of the slots being deilected inwardly, leaving narrow, externally rounded surfaces exposed to contact with the cotton plant between the brushes which protrndethrongh the slots.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presenc of two witnesses, I

AXEL LEVEDA llL.

lVitnesses:

A. V. Dnown. F. OLSON. 

